Reintroduction of Uniting American Families Act

“It should be an outrage to all Americans that our government continues to deny one set of citizens the fundamental rights enjoyed by the rest of its citizens. It is time that we as a society finally acknowledge that a committed, loving family is a committed, loving family, no matter whether a couple is gay or straight. It makes no difference. We should be encouraging and rewarding stable families rather than sweeping them into the margins. We must now pass UAFA, the Uniting American Families Act, and grant gay and lesbian binational families the same legal protections—and the same human dignity—as other Americans.”

The quote above is from US Rep. Jarrold Nadler (D-NY), Feb. 12, 2009, on the re-introduction of the UAFA, which would give same-sex bi-national couples the same immigration rights as heterosexual married/engaged bi-national couples. This is the sixth time in the past nine years that this bill, previously known as the Permanent Partners Immigration Act, has been introduced. Hopefully this time it won't be stalled in committee. I am, at this point in time, audacious enough to hope.